Healthy Snack Foods – 3 Frequently Asked Questions
When you think about switching over from "junk food snacks" to "healthy junk food snacks" you might find value from what we've experienced over the last 12 years. I have to laugh because I always had a fondness for junk foods. They were so tasty. So now, I just say our "healthy junk food snacks."
Question: Will healthy snack foods taste as good?
Answer: If you do it right, they can taste even better, and … they provide way more nutrition.
Example: My husband, Glen, and I loved a chip called Red Hot Blues. We really do love "hot" and we would have a nacho-type meal with these Red Hot Blues.
Note: These Red Hot Blues were sold at our local health food store.
After many years of eating these chips, the health food manufacturing industry changed. Many smaller companies merged with bigger ones and the quality of the foods we usually purchased declined. There were a lot of foods that we could no longer eat. We had to find different foods.
We were at a farmers market one day and came across some sprouted and dehydrated pecans. But there was something very special about them. They were spicy hot! And were they ever good!
When we could not find them at the farmers market any more, we found a way to make our own. We bought the best organic pecans we could find, for half the price we paid at the market. Then we soaked them, spiced them, and let them dry. We loved them!
Note: We changed our recipe for our nacho-type meals and love them all the same, even without the Red Hot Blues. But we do not use our spicy pecans at this meal. We found sprouted corn tortillas in the refrigerated section of our health food store. We either spice them up or make a really spicy salsa.
Question: Are not healthy snack foods more expensive?
Answer: Yes and No – That depends on whether you measure value by weight or by nutrition. It does cost more in the store when you compare the packaged foods that have little regard for nutritional value.
When we began looking for better quality, we started out with raw organic, sprouted and dehydrated nuts and seeds. When soaked in water and allowed to germinate a little, they have more nutrients and are easier to digest.
Basically, you are getting what you pay for.
Question: Is there any place to buy healthy snack foods at reduced prices?
Answer: Yes – definitely. Amazon is one. We were able to save considerably on some things until their suppliers ran out. Too much volume, I guess. But they still have a lot of good value snack foods for usually less money.
Note: When we started out buying organic, soaked, and dehydrated sunflower and pumpkin seeds, we were spending about $ 10 a bag (16 oz) for sunflower seeds and $ 15 a bag (16 oz) for the pumpkin seeds. This was expensive since we ended up spending about $ 100 a month.
When I found the same product at Amazon, they sold them in sets of 2 or 3 with a reduced price so we definitely saved there until they ran out.
I finally decided to buy a dehydrator and found a used one (L'Equip Dehydrator) on Craig's List that works great. It cost us $ 80. Even if we had spent $ 130 new, it would have been well worth the investment. It has a temperature control which is important.
The cost of the raw organic seeds are half the price. So that's what we do now. It's actually affordable, particularly when you make a lot of these healthy snack foods.
We are just now getting into making crackers and cookies. The fun part – they are very nutritious and we can eat them with meals or as a snack. We do not use sugar or any synthetic ingredients, just good quality wholesome ingredients.